Genre

• wordless picture books
  • The Arrival - one of the most innovative texts published under the tag of "picture book"
  • Flotsam - a metafictive structured narrative that plays with surreal elements
• fantasy - many picture books go down this path, especially those for younger readers, but increasingly there are others which clearly seek a wider audience
  • The story of Frog Jelly Rat Bone - the illustrations alone make this a wonderful experience
• subverted fantasy
  • The Frog Prince, Continued - While it is geared to younger readers, this is a great text to introduce intertextuality, and the subversion of the traditional fairytale retelling.
  • The Stinky Cheese Man
  • We are all in the dumps with Jack and Guy - plays with two well known nursery rhymes, where the images that accompany the narrative subverts and destabilises any sense of of innocence
• content informing
  • Where the Forest Meets the Sea
  • The Story of Rosie Dock - These give students the opportunity to explore the environment, and conservation, but also the manner in which the images are made. Giving students the opportunity to explore the techniques used to create the illustrations allows them to explore a different dimension of developing meaning.
  • Let the Celebrations Begin - the intrinsic beauty of the illustrations, familiar to many students as they are executed by Julie Vivas of Possum Magic fame, may undermine the message for some, as this is the story of the last days of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. It offers potential for laying the ground work for work on Jane Yolen's Briar Rose and other
  • Zoo - underlying messages about animals in captivity - a persuasive text worthwhile for looking at questions of ethics and morality, conservation, and a study of family interactions. This would be a great text to start introducing concepts such as 'the gaze', offer and demand, and getting students to start looking deeply into the imagery. This would also be a great text to lead into a debate, on the topic of "whether it is better to save animals by placing them in a zoo, or leave them in the wild to take the risks of extinction".
  • Fox - a great way to start an emotive discussion or a complementary text for Stage 6
  • Way Home - a powerful treatise on homelessness, which could also be used for Area of Study.
  • Home and Away - provides a powerful example of persuasive text, and a confronting perspective on asylum seekers
• multiple narrative - often this is where the text tells one story and the images another narrative altogether
  • Time to get out of the bath, Shirley
• postmodern
  • The Red Tree - Shaun Tan's own explanation is a great place to start. Tan talks about the manner in which he created a disconnected narrative, disrupting the concept of narrative structure.
  • Voices in the Park - an oldy but a goody, this presents so many opportunities to explore point of view, multiple narratives, voice, mood, modalities, visual puns, introducing the concept of play, metafictive elements
• Science fiction
  • The Watertower - This is a wonderful illustration of the way in which the textual narrative thrives because of the visual narrative. While it is described as 'gothic', it is deeply resonant of the old 1950s B-grade horror flicks produced in their hundreds in the backlot of Warner Bros and MGM. As such it is a wonderful way into introducing the concept of film genres, and the language students need to get an understanding of to make a success of their film studies.
  • Beneath the Surface -This is the sequel to The Watertower and it demonstrates, amongst other things, that it is not always possible to repeat the success! This could be a great pivot for a lesson. The iconography is a little too forced and heavy handed, lacking the spark which drives its predecessor
• and the list is endless